A Few Comments From Mike Lowell

I had a great chat with Mike Lowell before Sunday’s game in Columbus.I plan to do a full blog entry later, but here are a couple of the questions and answers that I thought I would post right away:

(photo courtesy of Kelly O’Connor)

You were 4-for-4 last night with 3 doubles – that would seem to a strong statement that this rehab isn’t going to take very long.

Well, I hope not.We have the next 4 or 5 days mapped out and I think with each at-bat I have been feeling better.I hadn’t seen live pitching in over a month so the ball tends to get on you pretty quickly.But once you realize the pace of live pitching and just get your foot down and get ready – I feel like my swing mechanically is pretty good, so it’s just a matter of the adjustments that you have to make during the course of a game.

How does your hip feel on a daily basis?Does it ache when you get up?Do you know when it’s going to rain?

I’m not sure I should comment on that one.I’ve come to realize that there are anti-inflamatory drugs that I have to take in order to feel somewhat comfortable.When I don’t take them, I notice there’s a stiffness – like you said – when I get up or if I’ve been sitting down for awhile.I think once I move around it kind of goes away.The good thing is that it’s never bothered me rotationally.I can throw, I can hit – none of that stuff has really bothered me, even at its worst point pre-surgery.I think now after the surgery, I just don’t have a lot of cartilage in that area so I get that bone-on-bone pounding – that’s the most uncomfortable part of it.Hopefully if I can monitor that and still be able to produce at the plate, I can get by.

Could you see yourself being content as a bench guy down the road?

Absolutely not – I’ll retire before I do that.I realize that winning and being able to put up consistent numbers satisfies me.To be a bench guy I think you need to be one of two things – I think you either need to be really fast or have above-average power, because you can get away with hitting .230 or .240 if you hit 10 or 12 home runs in limited at-bats.I’m neither one, and if I’m on a team I want to be playing.I don’t enjoy sitting and watching it.The role thing – once every 9 or 10 days – is not something that I look forward to or feel like I want to do.

About Me

I began writing this blog when I was a broadcaster for the Pawtucket Red Sox before leaving the team at the end of the 2011 season to become the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals. I am also the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Cincinnati football and basketball. Thanks to all of you who began reading this blog for content about Red Sox prospects. I will always cherish my time with the PawSox.
I still plan to write about baseball and will post all of my blog entries about the Bengals and Bearcats on this blog as well. I welcome your questions and/or comments at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.NFL.Net

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